Philips 2007 Annual Report Download - page 84

Philips Annual Report 200790
teams transform ideas into new business, by matching
unmet market needs with a unique value proposition.
The necessary capabilities can be sourced internally, or
acquired externally, e.g. in the start-up community. These
initiatives are governed by boards which are chaired by
a member of the Board of Management. In 2007 an
external nancing round was successfully structured for
Silicon Hive, diluting Philips’ stake in this venture into
that of the largest minority shareholding. In addition to
the Incubator activities, a Molecular Healthcare business
initiative has been created.
Philips Intellectual Property & Standards (IP&S)
Philips IP&S proactively pursues the creation of new
Intellectual Property (IP) in strategic areas and uses this
IP to support the growth and competitiveness of Philips’
businesses. IP&S manages the Philips IP portfolio, which
currently consists of about 60,000 patent rights, 29,000
trademarks, 43,000 design rights and 2,000 domain name
registrations. By participating in the creation of new
standards, IP&S also facilitates market adoption of new
innovations. Employing close to 450 people, IP&S has a
strong global presence with ofces in the major countries,
which allows it to create and exploit the Philips IP
portfolio close to its internal and external customers.
Philips believes its business as a whole is not materially
dependent on any particular patent or license, or any
particular group of patents and licenses.
Applied Technologies
Philips Applied Technologies supports its customers
by providing technology and developing rst-of-a-kind
products and applications. Approximately 850 professionals
– working at six locations across Europe, Asia and the
US – create new technologies and transform ideas into
competitive products. In addition, customers are served
through New Product Introduction Services.
Progress against targets
In the Annual Report 2006, Corporate Technologies
dened a number of key focal areas for 2007 and beyond.
The progress made in these is outlined below.
Developing advanced technologies to create meaningful
innovations
Corporate Technologies contributed to a host of
meaningful innovations in 2007. In healthcare, for
example, the concept of SmartExam was introduced
to MRI, leading to simpler procedures and an improved
product introduction services and testing). Where
appropriate, emerging businesses are incubated until they
are ready for transfer to a sector or spin-out, in part or
in whole, to a third-party investor.
In total, Corporate Technologies employs around 4,200
professionals at some 20 locations worldwide.
Research
Philips Research supports Philips’ operating divisions
with innovations, inventions and long-range vision. It
employs approximately 1,800 professionals around the
globe. Founded in 1914, Philips Research is one of the
world’s major private research organizations, with main
laboratories in the Netherlands, Germany, the United
Kingdom, the United States, China and India. The
activities are driven by user insights, and Philips Research
runs an ExperienceLab, consisting of HomeLab, ShopLab
and CareLab, in order to obtain continuous feedback on
how well its concepts meet end-user expectations.
Incubation and emerging businesses
In line with its strategy, Philips has established three
corporate venturing organizations: the Healthcare,
Lifestyle and Technology Incubators, employing close
to 200 professionals. Their charter is to identify new
growth opportunities for Philips and to help business
Philips Research has developed the SmartExam system –
dedicated scan-planning software that makes MRI scanners
easy to operate, while also shortening scanning time and
increasing the reproducibility of the images obtained.
8 Financial highlights 10 Message from the President 16 The Philips Group 62 The Philips sectors
Innovation &
Emerging Businesses